TEXAS BRIEFS

Judge delays Davidian wrongful-death trial

Posted: Thursday, September 16, 1999

The Associated Press

WACO (AP) - A federal judge on Wednesday delayed next month's trial in which surviving Branch Davidians have sued the government for wrongful death, saying it will take longer for federal officials to produce the evidence he has demanded.

U.S. District Judge Walter Smith, who has battled the Justice Department in recent weeks over the scope of his demand, acknowledged that the department intends to comply with his order to transfer to his court all documents and evidence related to the 1993 siege.

Smith will set a new court date after the logistics of the transfer of the evidence has been resolved. But, he said the government's earlier request for a fall 2000 date was "unrealistic" and he will not postpone the trial for a year.

Harlingen teen named national youth of year

HARLINGEN (AP) - The Boys & Girls Clubs of America has named a 17-year-old who helps build homeless shelters in Mexico its National Youth of the Year.

Martin Banda, an 11-year member of the Boys & Girls Club of Harlingen, will receive an $8,000 scholarship from the Reader's Digest Association, in addition to a $2,000 scholarship the association awarded him for winning the Southwest regional title.

He also received $25,000 from Oprah Winfrey's "Angel Network" for winning the Texas Youth of the Year honor. Martin received the honor in Washington, D.C. Wednesday.

Banda is a senior at Harlingen High School where he has a 3.745 grade point average and is ranked 64th in a class of 555. He is a member of the school band and plays on the school's basketball and football teams.He plans to attend Stanford University and major in psychology.

Translator error causes election officials woes

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - A Spanish translation error on the Nov. 2 state election ballot is causing problems for county officials across Texas who must decide whether to pay for reprinting.

The Spanish version of the ballot contained a flawed translation of Proposition 15, which is a proposed constitutional amendment "permitting spouses to agree to convert separate property to community property."

The original translation in Spanish states the amendment permits spouses "to agree to convert separate property to the community."

An urgent notice was issued Tuesday by the Texas Secretary of State's Office, which certified the ballot in August. The agency plans to correct and recertify the ballot. But counties must pay for election ballot printing with local money.

DNA shows assault not linked to slayings

ARLINGTON (AP) - An analysis of DNA evidence confirmed the abduction and sexual assault of a woman on the University of Texas at Arlington campus two weeks ago is not related to a February attack of a student and two unsolved slayings.

Campus police investigators said Wednesday they are researching several leads in the Sept. 1 attack of a 23-year-old woman, who was kidnapped from a private apartment complex on school property. The perpetrator allegedly forced the woman into his car and sexually assaulted her.

In April, Arlington police said the same man who raped a UTA student in February also killed two young women in 1996. Police said unspecified forensic evidence tied the three crimes together.